


Strangeness

by daltheznadof



Category: Aliens vs Predators Series - Various Authors, Predator Series
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexuality, F/M, asexual predator
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-09 19:19:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8908855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daltheznadof/pseuds/daltheznadof
Summary: He'd been this way for as long as he knew. He never understood the needs of the rest of his species or why they would go into season. He never felt it, so surely it wasn't required? Vertiis would stay out of season until he's challenged by his brother. Things don't go, quite, how he'd wanted them to and he's stuck with a problem. He doesn't want a partner for season and though some brothers don't quite understand, they try to help find a suitable partner.





	1. I Challenge

He'd come to terms with his strangeness among his people. He would close himself to a corner of the ship if season started while away from the home planet. Getting caught up in mating season was not an ordeal he wanted to go through again. 

His brothers knew. They'd tried to explain the feeling to him, but he still didn't quite understand it. He'd never felt a need to touch another the way they did. He found it repulsive and he'd spoken as much.

Ska'ah had snorted. His skin was a tan with khaki mottling patterns. He was the most stubborn of Vertiis' brothers and found his brother's strangeness much harder to accept than a few of the others. "You must feel something! You have not felt the heat?"

Vertiis crossed his arms. He was larger than Ska'ah. They were from the same brood but Vertiis had taken after their mother. He was a darker brown with a lighter mottling pattern. "No. Why is this hard to understand? I have never felt as any of you have."

Ska'ah narrows his eyes at his brother. "There must be something wrong with you! What do you do then? If you do not come into season?" His hands are tight, claws biting into his palms. He truly can't understand. 

"I leave before season. I find your acts repulsive." Vertiis met Ska'ah's stare, challenging him.

"But that is not our way!" Ska'ah barked.

"Our way is the hunt. And I hunt." Vertiis barked right back. 

"You just have not smelled the right scent then. You will." Ska'ah pressed a hand to his brother's chest and pushed him slightly. 

"Are you challenging me?" Vertiis all but snarls. He's really starting to get enough of Ska'ah's words. 

"Yes. A contest. I am challenging you," Ska'ah pushes him again. 

The rest of their siblings are watching by now, their interest prevalent in the strange brother and the youngest. There is low chittering among them.

"A contest for what," Vertiis' mandibles flare slightly and he can't help but not like the way this is going. 

"For you to change this," Ska'ah motions to all of Vertiis. "It is not acceptable and I won't have it. We shall fight. I will win and you must find a partner for the next season."

Vertiis doesn't like it. However, he is the honorable sort and has never once backed out of a fight. "I win. You will stop with your words. You will never speak off of my ways again."

"Then the terms are set. We fight in the ring after food." Ska'ah nods, determined. 

"Fine."

"Fine."


	2. I Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight to first blood.

The terms to the match were set and the weapon chosen. First blood wins.

Vertiis drops with his feet slightly apart and watches Ska'ah intently. His fingers are loose on his closed combi-stick, waiting.

Ska'ah circles slowly, watching his brother. He's impatient and makes the first move by charging him, combi-stick extending with in upwards swipe. 

Vertiis jumps back, having anticipated the attack. His own weapon goes to block a return swipe down. Ska'ah is quick but has a tendency to rely on brute force more than thinking forward. "You waste your energy, mei'hswei (brother)." 

Ska'ah growls as he continues to try to attack Vertiis without success. "Fight me. Stop running." 

Vertiis dodges another attack by diving to the side in a roll. He's rather agile as he comes up in a crouch and swipes Ska'ah's feet from under him. He is getting tired of the unchallenging fight and decides to egg his brother on. "If you presented a challenge, then I might, tarei hsan (unworthy opponent/bug)."   
Ska'ah clicks and snarls. He recovers quickly, launching himself to his feet. His lower mandibles flare before he charges his brother again, quicker in his rage. "You dare!" 

The sudden burst in Ska'ah's speed has Vertiis surprised and it's all he can do but raise his arm to block the weapon. Ska'ah's combi-stick bites into his arm, drawing green blood. There's a cheer from those present. A good battle always ended in some blood. 

Ska'ah is still angered. He presses forward, swiping the other end of his staff up into Vertiis. The larger male ends up on his back, holding off the blades with his hands. "Do you relent."

Vertiis swallows. There is more to him at stake than just his dignity, but pinned and prone, there is little he can do. He is quiet when he speaks, "Yes."

Ska'ah breaths out slowly, steps back and retracts his weapon. He has a pompous air to him as he offers a hand to his brother. "Now you will find a mate for season." The words are smug.

Vertiis, begrudgingly, takes his brother's hand and gets up. He hates this. There were no Yautja that felt as he did and he did not want to go near the females in season. They had the habit of being more aggressive than the males. He most certainly didn't need either of them. "Those were the terms." 

Ska'ah watches Vertiis for a moment before turning away. "You'll bring the mate to me before season so I can see you fulfill the terms. Understand?"

Vertiis' mandibles draw tightly against his face. "That is only two cycles!"

"Then you should find a suitable partner," Ska'ah saunters away from the mats. "I will be waiting, mei'hswei." 

Vertiis continues to stand there after he is gone. He doesn't know what to do with this.


	3. Talk with Ark'tan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A talk with Ark'tan is reassuring.

Vertiis sits for a long time by himself in the archives. It is seldom many come here. So it is a quiet place he tends to when others are a bother.

Every idea he thinks of to find a way out of this agreement are not strong ones. He places his head in his hands and growls quietly. "It is not so strange," he murmurs, reassuring himself.

There is a knock at the entryway. "I thought so. You are the strange one of us to reside in here." It is one of his many brothers, Ark'tan. Shorter than Vertiis and a light green mottling. He comes in and sits by Vertiis. "The agreement is that unsettling for you?"

Vertiis looks to him for a moment before looking away. "Yes... It is not something I wish to partake in. It is not hard to understand, is it?"

Ark'tan taps his talons against his knee thoughtfully. After a moment, he says, "I... do not truly understand. But I do accept it. You have truly never felt the heat?"

"Not in a single season. I do not expect it to change now." Vertiis crosses his arms. "And I do not know what to do! I cannot find one as I am! Yautja do not feel this way as you all say. I am different."

Ark'tan listens to his words intently. "You are different, but you are Yautja. As we all are." He pauses, thinking for a moment before he speaks again. "Perhaps there are a few as you are, though they would be hard to find. If we are unable to find Yautja, there are other species."

Vertiis' mandibles draw close to his face at what Ark'tan suggests. "You do not suggest the oomans, do you? They are a lazy breed that is only good for sport."

Ark'tan purrs. "I've come across a few... _good_ ones." His tone is quite indecent.

"You are foul," Vertiis says, disgusted.

Ark'tan laughs at his brother's mannerism. "You are easy to tease mei'hswei. But I am serious on this, whether for sport or breeding. A partner is a partner for this agreement of yours. Is it not?"

Vertiis is quiet for a time and Ark'tan waits for him to speak. He grips his knees and looks down at the floor. "Were I to do that... Find an ooman..."

"I will help you. As will some of our brothers, I am sure. With many of us searching it should be a quick task." Ark'tan's mandibles flare in a slight in a grin.

"I would prefer Yautja, but will take a human if only to meet the terms of this wager," Vertiis sighs. He watches his brother for a moment before returning the smile. He places a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you."

"I feel you would do the same were I you, Vertiis." Ark'tan returns the gesture. "Now come. It would be best for you to be there to get the help needed for this."

"You are right," Vertiis nods. He stands with Ark'tan and together they leave the archives.


End file.
